Management by Values: A Case Study

Zhen LIU

Abstract

The intention of this paper is to conclude the management approach by the case study of Chinese enterprise. There are a lot of management approaches in practice, one of the most influential and famous one is management by objective which is invented by the father of modern management discipline Peter F Drucker, he observed the case of American most successful enterprise such as GM and then concluded and created the relevant meaningful management tools, in effect, such valuable management theory is stemmed from the practice of management, and the premise is that there must have great enterprise first then the effective management way could be concluded, therefore, many management theories are created in America because that the US have many great organizations other countries did not have at that time. However, after more than thirty years’ efforts and accumulation of the development of reform and openingup in China, it is our pride that such accumulation has lead to a lot of successful enterprises in China, one of such great companies is Alibaba, which is created at the right time and the right place. Alibaba is chosen because that the reason of its success is different with other enterprises in China and even in the world, it is a company which never place high value on benefit, however, it is more successful than any other companies which are benefit-oriented, by the case study we find out that the secret of its success is nothing but an innovational practice of management, that is, Management by Values (MBV). As it is shown in this paper: Alibaba, the mission of which is to create easy way to trade anywhere. Such visionary mission gives Alibaba a dream of unlimited growth space, but only the mission itself is not enough, effective management by values helps Alibaba to realize this potential. Its practice implies the content of values and how to manage it in an organization; besides, it tells us the bases of managing by values, which are about the character of the leader and the purpose of the organization, Jack ma and Alibaba are good cases in point, Jack ma himself is poor in education, but he is really a practical dreamer and is also a leader who is good at developing others, as an organization , the purpose of Alibaba is the benefit of outside instead of its profit, both are really precious in today’s business; and what is more, its experience also witnesses the process of management by values: start an enterprise with an agreeable basic principles of values ; shaping the values when the enterprise begin to take shape; evaluating the values of all the employees when the enterprise become big; at last, the developing of values itself should be an important part of this management, which part of the values should be persisted, which part might be changed, Alibaba provide us a good case in point.